Ministry of Health states the government will begin rolling out booster COVID-19 doses to the public this month.
The Maldives received more than 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine in December last year. The US donated 100,620 doses of Pfizer vaccine to the Maldives through COVAX, the global vaccine access initiative, adding to the nearly 120,000 doses it had previously donated to assist the vaccination programme in the country. Health Protection Agency (HPA) earlier stated the government was unable to make the booster doses publicly available due to the lack of syringes and other resources.
Speaking at a press conference, State Minister for Health Dr. Shah Mahir said the government will receive all the necessary equipment and resources next week and will begin rolling out the booster doses later this month.
Maldives began administering the Pfizer vaccine as the booster dose for COVID-19 in October last year. As of now, vaccine booster doses are being administered to health workers and frontline workers as well as high-risk individuals. In this regard, over 27,000 individuals have received the booster dose, while a vast majority of the population has completed the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.